Oooh la la! Now here's a thread that has me excited enough to stop lurking and to chime in! IMHO, taking an apartment in Paris is the only way to really do Paris. On my last trip there, we ditched the hotel experience and rented a wonderful 2 bedroom apartment on the Rue d'Arbalete. (That's a very teeny street which is only a block away or so from the Rue Mouffetard.) Of course, the kitchen was tiny as heck. But, honestly, as one who lives in NYC, I didn't find it to be shockingly so. (Most Big Apple dwellers tend to be pretty accustomed to learning how to live and love small kitchens.) :) At any rate, I agree with Minette99, you will absolutely love the Rue Mouffetard! Needless to say, we prepared most of our meals with the wonderful produce, fish, cheeses, baked goods, etc. that we would pick up from the market each day. Besides the winding cobblestone street and the great shopping there (not just the food markets but also clothes, jewelry, crafts, etc.) I was really impressed by the friendliness and willingness of the produce vendors to help us make the best, most informed choices on our purchases. BTW, while in the 5th, you may also want to check out these spots that aren't generally at the top of most tour stops -- which also makes them great "in-the-know" places to visit: Jardin Des Plantes (botanical gardens), the totally funky Museum National d'histoire Naturelle (Museum of Natural History) and the Hammam de la Mosquee de Paris (Hammam Mosque)which is famed for its mud baths, marble steam room, mint and oil massages and afternoon tea!

Thanks Dash3108. hswsc-Here are some pictures of what flanks my range. To the left is a lazy susan cabinet that I had made bigger each way so I could store cookie sheets and cake pans on either side. On the right is a two drawer cabinet for pots and pans. ppbenn-You are right. The breadbox area has a 23 inch high backsplash. Don't know why. It is okay for me since I am pretty tall, but I probably wouldn't do it on purpose. Hope this hood insert picture helps. ="0" alt="Photobucket"/>

Shouldn't marble not stain if it's sealed? I think the real issues are etching and scratching. Those pictures are helpful for people, but they should also realize they're kind of the "worst case" scenarios. Carrera will etch, every bit as much as those pictures show, but it usually won't look as bad as those pictures, if that makes any sense. The pictures have to be taken at the right angle to get the etches to show for a picture. That last picture looks so awful because it's stained, which doesn't seem to happen to most people who have their counters sealed when needed. The first three pictures are fairly representative of what friends with carrera-type marbles live with, but their etches are not very noticeable when you walk in their kitchens. On the whitish marbles at least, those etches would not be noticeable in most light conditions to someone who's just walking through the kitchen. (I don't know about the third one that's brownish--I've never seen anyone with a polished counter in that color of marble.) A good friend of mine has carrera counters in her kitchen that gets lots of light, and she has hundreds of etches. Unless you bend your head and crane your neck to look for them, you won't notice them. Her honed finish makes a big difference to this--with a polished finish, the difference in finish between the etch and the rest of the counter will be more noticeable. She also doesn't have direct sunlight hitting them through most of the day. I also have marble counters, but they're dolomitic marble, so they're a bit slower to etch. In other words, we can spill lemon juice on them, and it won't etch if we wipe if up within a few minutes. Our counters are just as soft as non-dolomitic marble in most places, and we have thousands of tiny scratches on our polished finish counters. Most of them are like the ones visible in the fourth picture, and with the veining of our counters, they're not noticeable unless you look for them. Over time, the polished finish is developing its "patina" and getting less shiny. They're still gorgeous, and I'd do them again in a heartbeat. But I would not have risked polished counters with carrera. I did want to mention the scratching because I think it sometimes gets overlooked as people worry about etching. Both will happen to marble, no matter how much you baby it.

Thanks, Enduring. I am thinking no on the warm floors unless they actually significantly warm the room, and I have heard that they take hours to do that. I don't mind cold flooring as much as I mind cold air. I am running into problems with the body dryers. Firstly, the Tornado (which is designed for the US) needs a corner and I am running out of them. Ideally, it goes in the shower and dries both you and the shower stall and curtain, but I have no corners there at all. I could put it in the entry to the bathroom if there is a 4" bit of wall past the corner where the room door slides out of the wall. Secondly the Vilaryo, made in Spain, is not wired for the US. Their Spanish rep says that we can just hardwire it into a 220 circuit. It appears to blow harder and warm the air to 26 degrees warmer than the surrounding air, not the 5 - 7 of the Tornado. It looks more substantial and professional and does not need a corner, but will take up some of my cabinet space next to the shower. So I will end up having a tall Valiryo next to a tall cabinet, instead of the two cabinet doors the same height as the chair rail that Michoumonster has put in place with beautiful walnut doors.I asked for a US referral and received an email from a lady in NYC who has one in her home. She has hers plugged into the wall, though she did not say if her electrician put in an European plug or changed the plug on the appliance to the American standard.She did get a warranty repair at a small cost to her. So once Jim gets here next Monday, I will ask him whether I have space on the panel for another 220 circuit, and what he thinks about a European appliance. I do have a 220 circuit right behind the closet in the bedroom where we are stealing that foot. It has a supplemental cove heating unit on the wall near the ceiling. This is a form of radiant heating that we put there for Dad. This is a corner bedroom and it gets drafty in the winter. If that is a 15 amp circuit, it may work for both the heater and the Valiryo. the Tornado's amperage may be too high, though.